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Alibaba Newspaper Deal Would Test Political Sensitivities

A photo illustration shows the South China Morning Post website displayed on a table computer in Hong Kong, China, November 23, 2015.

Tyrone Siu/Reuters

As Alibaba’s Jack Ma reportedly seeks control of the South China Morning Post—Hong Kong’s iconic English-language newspaper—he invites comparisons to Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos, an Internet tycoon who is injecting new money into an old newspaper. But the comparison ends there. As WSJ’s Li Yuan writes in her “China Circuit” column:

Mr. Bezos’ Washington Post might pursue news coverage of politics as its bread-and-butter, but a deal for all or part of publisher SCMP Group would put Mr. Ma and his giant Chinese e-commerce company in a sensitive—and very real—political spot.

Perhaps that is the goal. If so, Mr. Ma should be careful what he wishes for.

Both the South China Morning Post and the Washington Post are traditional newspapers that are struggling to cope with the new, online world.